This invention relates generally to locomotive management, and more specifically, to tracking locomotives and determining the specific locomotives in a locomotive consist, which includes determining order and orientation of the locomotives.
For extended periods of time, e.g., 24 hours or more, locomotives of a locomotive fleet of a railroad are not necessarily accounted for due, for example, to the many different locations in which the locomotives may be located and the availability of tracking device at those locations. In addition, some railroads rely on wayside automatic equipment identification (AEI) devices to provide position and orientation of a locomotive fleet. AEI devices typically are located around major yards and provide minimal position data. AEI devices are expensive and the maintenance costs associated with the existing devices is high. There exists a need for cost-effective tracking of locomotives.
In one aspect, the present invention relates to identifying locomotive consists within train consists, and determining the order and orientation of the locomotives within the identified locomotive consists. By identifying locomotive consists and the order and orientation of locomotives within such consists, a railroad can better manage it locomotive fleet.
In one exemplary embodiment, an on-board tracking system for being mounted to each locomotive of a train includes locomotive interfaces for interfacing with other systems of the particular locomotive, a computer coupled to receive inputs from the interface, and a GPS receiver and a satellite communicator (transceiver) coupled to the computer. A radome is mounted on the roof of the locomotive and houses the satellite transmit/receive antennas coupled to the satellite communicator and an active GPS antenna coupled to the GPS receiver.
Generally, the onboard tracking system determines the absolute position of the locomotive on which it is mounted and additionally, obtains information regarding specific locomotive interfaces that relate to the operational state of the locomotive. Each equipped locomotive operating in the field determines its absolute position and obtains other information independently of other equipped locomotives. Position is represented as a geodetic position, i.e., latitude and longitude.
The locomotive interface data is typically referred to as xe2x80x9clocomotive discretesxe2x80x9d and are key pieces of information utilized during the determination of locomotive consists. In an exemplary embodiment, three (3) locomotive discretes are collected from each locomotive. These discretes are reverser handle position, trainlines eight (8) and nine (9), and online/isolate switch position. Reverser handle position is reported as xe2x80x9ccenteredxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cforward/reversexe2x80x9d. A locomotive reporting a centered reverser handle is in xe2x80x9cneutralxe2x80x9d and is either idle or in a locomotive consist as a trailing unit. A locomotive that reports a forward/reverse position is xe2x80x9cin-gearxe2x80x9d and most likely either a lead locomotive in a locomotive consist or a locomotive consist of one locomotive. Trainlines eight (8) and nine (9) reflect the direction of travel with respect to short-hood forward versus long-hood forward for locomotives that have their reverser handle in a forward or reverse position.
The online/isolate switch discrete indicates the consist xe2x80x9cmodexe2x80x9d of a locomotive during railroad operations. The online switch position is selected for lead locomotives and trailing locomotives that will be controlled by the lead locomotive. Trailing locomotives that will not be contributing power to the locomotive consist will have their online/isolate switch set to the isolate position.
The locomotives provide location and discrete information from the field, and a data center receives the raw locomotive data. The data center processes the locomotive data and determines locomotive consists.
Specifically, and in one embodiment, the determination of locomotive consist is a three (3) step process in which 1) the locomotives in the consist are identified, 2) the order of the locomotives with respect to the lead locomotive are identified, and 3) the orientation of the locomotives in the consist are determined as to short-hood versus long hood forward.